George Russell is the driver to beat in Shanghai after his dominant win in Australia, and Mercedes will be in contention for another one-two finish in China,The only team who came close to crashing the party were Ferrari, but a pit strategy snafu blew their chances,A drive from seventh to second for Russell’s teammate Kimi Antonelli showed how Mercedes can sweep past other teams even if the start doesn’t go their way,By the time qualifying gets under way, the season’s first sprint race will have taken place, with Russell having taken pole position,Joey Lynch helms our lap-by-lap live blog.

Giles Richards reports,Alex Reid buckles up for our essential gateway to the weekend’s football fixtures, with breaking news, reader feedback and vibes from around the grounds as we build up to five Premier League matches,In the Championship, Coventry, the leaders, face Southampton, Tonda Eckert’s side buzzing from their FA Cup defeat of Fulham last weekend and a rapid rise into the playoff mix,Middlesbrough are also going well under Kim Hellberg and welcome Bristol City, who are seven points adrift of the playoff places after three successive defeats,In Scotland, pacesetting Hearts and second-placed Celtic are in action, while in Europe, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Inter feature.

France, Scotland or Ireland will clinch the most compelling Six Nations in years on Saturday and one last twist in the final round would not surprise.France are in pole position to win successive titles for the first time since 2006-07.France lead Scotland in the table on points difference, with Ireland two points behind.Scotland opened the title race up by destroying France’s grand slam hopes 50-40 in Edinburgh last Saturday.Scotland’s most basic route to a first title since the 1999 Five Nations is beating Ireland and France losing to England later.

But Scotland have not beaten Ireland since 2017 and have failed to win in Dublin since 2010.Ireland have been the graveyard of Scotland’s dreams in their past 11 contests.Ireland’s simplest path to a third title in four years is beating Scotland and also hoping England beat France.A draw and/or bonus points spin out the scenarios.Ireland and Scotland are also in the first showdown since 2009 for the triple crown.

Ireland won it in 2022, 2023 and 2025.Scotland last won it in 1990.Alex Reid keeps the updates flowing with Brendan Fanning reporting from Dublin.Will Unwin keeps watch over the two mid-afternoon kick-offs.Bournemouth, still entertaining hopes of Europe, head to relegation-battlers Burnley.

Scott Parker’s side are nine points from the last safe spot, having lost their past two league games – and were also dumped out of the FA Cup at home by Mansfield.The Clarets, though, have shown some glimmers of hope, battling to a draw at Chelsea and then almost pulling off a fine comeback from 3-0 down against Brentford, only to be denied by a controversial VAR call.Sunderland look to bounce back from their FA Cup exit to League One strugglers Port Vale against Brighton.Only three points separate the teams in the middle of the Premier League standings and Brian Brobbey and Dennis Cirkin may be in contention for the Black Cats as they return from injury.Wales – without a win in three years in the competition – host Italy in Cardiff, with the visitors aiming for three wins in a single championship for the first time.

Italy were the last team to lose a Six Nations game to Wales, on 11 March 2023, and come kick-off that will be 1,099 days ago,Wales have since lost 15 consecutive matches in the Championship and a proud rugby nation are desperate to see their worst run in the tournament ended,Wales conceded 102 points in opening defeats to England and France, but they have shown significant progress in the past two Six Nations rounds,Scotland were five minutes from losing in Cardiff before eventually prevailing 26-23,Wales then lost 27-17 to Ireland in Dublin but were within one score until four minutes from time.

Lee Calvert offers minute-by-minute coverage, with Michael Aylwin at the Principality Stadium,Arsenal can move closer to their first Premier League title for 22 years with a win over Everton,Just eight games stand between Arsenal and their grail – a first English crown since Arsène Wenger’s Invincibles lifted the trophy in 2004,The Gunners are seven points clear of second-placed Manchester City and can extend that lead to 10 points if they beat David Moyes’s side, who boast an impressive away record: Everton have just recorded back-to-back victories and have not lost on the road since mid-December,Manchester City, who hold a game in hand on Arsenal heading into this weekend, will kick off at West Ham roughly 30 minutes after the final whistle in the leaders’ match.

But regardless of what City do in their remaining nine games, Mikel Arteta’s pacesetters have the destiny of the title in their grip after recovering from a two-game winless run in February by reeling off three consecutive league victories.Tim de Lisle helms our live blog and David Hytner reports from the Emirates Stadium.The Hammers have lost only two of their past eight league games – winning four – and remain in the relegation zone only on goal difference before Saturday’s home fixture against City.That said, Nuno Espírito Santo’s reinvigorated West Ham have lost their last seven games against City and have not beaten them since a 2-1 win at the Etihad Stadium in 2015.However, they will note that Pep Guardiola’s side were thumped 3-0 at Real Madrid in their midweek Champions League tie and dropped further behind Arsenal in the title race after drawing 2-2 with Nottingham Forest.

Scott Murray hosts the blog, with Jacob Steinberg reporting from the London Stadium.France have the advantage of closing the championship at a packed Stade de France against an underwhelming England, knowing what they will need to do as they kick off four hours after Ireland v Scotland concludes in Dublin.Unless they defy expectations in Saint-Denis, England face the grim reality of crashing to their worst Six Nations by finishing with a solitary victory, against Wales in round one.For now, Steve Borthwick is being backed by the Rugby Football Union, but the head coach has a brutal summer that features fixtures in South Africa and Argentina, plus Fiji in England, in which to reverse the decline.Borthwick is convinced he has the necessary fixes, but evidence of a revival is needed against France, with another heavy defeat likely to test the RFU’s patience before the post-Championship investigation into what has gone wrong.

Lee Calvert is back on blog duty with Robert Kitson and Gerard Meagher reporting from Paris,While Mercedes and Ferrari have begun the campaign in style, Red Bull’s four-time world champion Max Verstappen has been an outspoken critic of the new regulations which came into force at last Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix,Verstappen confirmed this week that he will take part in the Nürburgring 24 Hours sportscar race, sandwiched between F1 races in Miami and Canada in May,But he has also hinted at a possible F1 exit strategy by ramping up his desire to compete in the 24 hours of Le Mans as well as additional sportscar events,Before the new season, F1’s supremo, Stefano Domenicali, insisted he was confident the Dutchman would not turn his back on the sport.

Verstappen, who is under contract with Red Bull until the end of 2028, says: “I don’t want to leave but, like I said, I wish I had a bit more fun,” Joey Lynch returns to cover the race live,Yara El-Shaboury has all the buildup and breaking news on an enticing day of football that features four Premier League fixtures, the Women’s League Cup final at Ashton Gate and Barcelona facing Sevilla in La Liga,Expect news and reaction from all Saturday’s action,Why not join the conversation by sending your thoughts to matchday.

live@theguardian,com?The winner of this confrontation will take a giant step towards reaching the Champions League,Third-placed United are only separated by goal difference from fourth-placed Villa, setting the scene for a vital showdown in the race for a top-four finish,Fifth place is also likely to secure a berth in Europe’s elite club competition, but United and Villa can erase any anxiety by landing a top-four spot,United go into the showdown looking to bounce back from Michael Carrick’s first defeat in seven games in interim charge, a 2-1 loss at Newcastle.

Villa have stumbled in recent weeks, winning only one of their last five league matches, with their last two a chastening defeat at bottom-of-the-table Wolves and a 4-1 thrashing by Chelsea.Tim de Lisle buckles up for blog duty for this lively clash.Jamie Jackson is our match reporter at Old Trafford.Chelsea are no strangers to Women’s League Cup triumphs: Sunday’s final at Ashton Gate will be the Blues’ seventh in a row, while their opponents are appearing for the first time.The holders also boast a formidable record against United, winning 13 of their past 15 meetings across all competitions and have only lost once in that time.

Yet Marc Skinner’s side are confident of reversing that unwelcome trend as Sonia Bompastor’s Blues struggle in the Women’s Super League.United are in the quarter-finals of the Women’s Champions League, and sit second in the WSL table, a point and a place above Chelsea.Billy Munday steers our live blog while Suzanne Wrack reports from Bristol.If third-bottom West Ham beat Manchester City on Saturday and Nottingham Forest get a result against Fulham in a 2pm kick-off, Igor Tudor’s 16th-placed side will have slipped even closer to the Championship by the time they face Liverpool at Anfield.Beaten in six games in a row in all competitions for the first time in their history, Tottenham were humiliated in a 5-2 defeat at Atlético Madrid in the Champions League last-16 first leg on Tuesday, a calamitous night that featured Tudor substituting the keeper Antonin Kinsky after just 17 minutes due to a pair of mistakes that led directly to goals.

Tottenham’s plight is so acute that the club this week told fans they would be given “an extended period” to decide if they want to renew their season tickets due to the “seriousness of the current league position”.With nine games to save themselves, Tottenham – winless in their last 11 league matches – could have done without a trip to Anfield, where they haven’t won since 2011.Daniel Harris clocks on as blog host as Will Unwin and Jonathan Wilson report.